taste: I had wanted to try this for a while - it always seems to elude me. Potent and full-flavored, oily hop resin, bold grapefruit, cascadian pine, sticky caramel. Great stuff - now where are the damn bottles hiding?

Poured into a Black Raven pint glass. Pours a medium coppery amber with a two finger off-white head with good retention and lacing. Aroma of pine and slightly skunky hops, light caramel malt and citrus, somewhat subdued. Flavor follows, but more assertive, fresh tasting pine and citrus hops well melded to a caramel malt body, pleasant citrus notes. Finishes with citrus and long lasting pine and herbal hops bitterness. Medium bodied with some creaminess. A classic, well made Northwest style IPA, great balance and complexity to the hops. Really glad to have finally snagged a bottle of this, which usually doesn't get too far from its home in Bellingham.

22oz into a tulip. Pours a clear amber w/ a big fluffy off-white head, some thin film of lace. Lazy carbonation.

Aroma is big pine and citrus, some earthy tropical notes. Dank.

Taste follows nose. Heavy on the grapefruit and pine, with some heavier tropical flavors in the background. Malt bill is a blend of caramel and pale malts. Alcohol is not entirely masked, but in no way dominant. Just a little boozy heat comes with the swallow. Powerfully bitter on the finish.

Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, almost heavy. Oily, slightly chewy.

Overall a big, agressive DIPA that manages to pull off a pretty good balance.

Today I had this beer on cask with a unique twist. Centennial hops were added to the mix. I had this beer served to me twice with a slight head. It was orange and creamy in color. The lace is ropy and viscous. The beer smells of rich, tropical fruit, and sweet pine. Floral more than citrusy. The taste of this on cask with the centennial hops, boosts the score, at least .25 points, all around. The taste is unlike the new traditional West Coast IPA/DIPA that are juicy, hoppy, sweet, and piney. The front end is loaded with a sweet, floral hop taste, backed by a good malty base. On cask, of course this has a much more creamy and smooth mouthfeel. Excellent.

I have had this on tap in the past and I never ordered a second serving. This time I had two. The cask conditioning and the added centennial hops makes this a superb imperial IPA.

A: Mostly clear orange in color (becomes cloudy in later pours due to sedimentation being dislodged). Forms a respectably half inch of light tan colored head that reduces to a thick ring and some surface coating. Some light lacing.

S: Lots of citrus. Orange and grapefruit with a good dose of alcohol. Some caramel malt, but it is in the background.

T: Starts off with a mild orange juice sweetness before turning rather alcoholic with notes of citrus hops, orange, and grapefruit with pine to a lesser extent. A bit of pine resin bitterness on the finish.

M: Medium bodied with appropriate carbonation. Moderate bitterness with a mix of soapiness and alcoholic heat.

O: This beer has a lot of potential - there are aspects of it that I like a lot, but the alcohol is too forward for the chosen hops and soapy mouthfeel is a bit distracting. Still a good brew, though.

When looking through BBs beers here on BA the other day, I was surprised to see that I hadn't reviewed this beauty. So, down to the brewery for a couple to rectify the situation.

Served in 10oz goblet. The beer pours a nice golden-orange color with about a half inch of off-white head that had good retention and nice lacing.

The aroma was very hop forward, as expected, very citrusy and had a solid malt foundation. On the tongue, the hops attack the tastebuds with the malt providing a touch of balancing sweetness.

The body is full and smooth, much fuller than most of the style. Drinkability is excellent, having multiples is WAAAY too easy.

Overall, this is one of my favorites of the style, I'm fortunate to live a seven minute walk from the pub. The walk home generally takes longer. On a side note, there is often a fair bit of variation between batches of this beer, so your experience may differ. If you're a hop-head, this is a must try. Worth the drive up if you're in the Seattle area.

Appearance  This one is a deep brown in color with just a hint of orange. The head came up full and fluffy and laid on top of the liquid like a soft down-filled pillow. It was very retentive and laced the heck out of my pint glass. Kudos to Corey for the excellent pour.

Smell  The complex hops roar out of the glass like a line of horses at the starting gate of Churchill Downs. The big pine bolts to the lead and sets the pace. It is very clean and distinctive. The malts run very hard around the first turn but cant catch the leader on the back stretch.

Taste  The big, resiny hops seem to just drip from the glass. They just ooze into the mouth like a syrupy sludge. This hop monster would give The Chunks a run for its money.

The malts are actually big here as well, but they are just drowned out by the hops. This beer would be too malty with just about any other hop profile.

Mouthfeel  This IPA is almost full in the body and is painfully dry and bitter. Drinking this ale almost hurts.

Drinkability  This one strives for balance but theres just no way to pull it off with such a huge hop profile. This is so over-the-top its not even funny. Man, if you need a hop fix this is your poison. Me, I just f***in loved it.

Comments  This is quite possibly the hoppiest beer Ive had to date, and living in the PacNW thats saying a lot. This beer is just relentless. I had it two hours ago and I can still taste it. The Chunks may win out in the end, certainly it is more floral, but this thing is a mouthfull of bitter, bone dry, palate crushing hops.

I had this beer fresh, and on tap at Boundary Bay in Bellingham, WA/ It poured dark amber and hazy. No head. Strong aroma of citrus and toffee. Big grapefruit profile in the nose. You can smell the alcohol. Taste is grapefruit up front, some toffee and sherry. Lots of heat. Slick mouth feel. This reminds me a little of Devil Dancer from Founders. This is a better beer with superior mouth feel, and a decent drinkability, but it is still a bit muddled like Devil Dancer. I prefer my IIPAs to have a more pronounced hop profile.